Trio on a Poem of D.H. Lawrence Ibid mvt1

for clarinet, viola and piano (1983).

Clarinet Joseph Edwards

Viola Walter Mony

PIano Timothy Ehlen

Each movement relates to the corresponding stanza of the poem.  The viola haunts the first movement hinting at a remote song by William Byrd (1543-1623) in which a mother sings to her child - my sweet darling, my comfort and joy.  

Softly in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;  Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings And pressing the small, pointed feet of a mother who smiles and sings.